Alien 3: The End of Ripley?

leading from:

 Alien 3

 

a) The cloning solution

Alien 3 had been filmed, Ripley has died. How can another Alien movie starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley go on?

Sigourney said to David Giler on the night of the wrap party on Alien 3  "I'm gonna miss this character"

Giler replied "don't be silly, this character is you know, she'd just had her chest ripped out in a pit of fire and you know and all the rest of it. So we start Alien four , we go to some laboratory some place and they open up a drawer, and they've got your fingernail clippings in there. And they clone you and you're a whole new one. "

"Really?" replied Sigourney

Giler continued "We could bully them. If anyone wants to bring you back we can do it."

Sigourney wasn't saying no to this but on the other hand, she wondered just how many times could the character of Ripley wake up to the same situation over and over again and win, and then go back to sleep and then have the same thing happen in the next movie

Giler would later have somebody came to him and say "I think they are talking about making another Alien", and when somebody came to ask him how he thought it should be done, he would have an idea.

Ripley clone grown from blood samples from "Fiori 16"

b) See: Whedon writes the Alien Resurrection script

Source Quotes

1. David Giler: If everyone loves this movie, there will be a fourth one. It's science fiction, there are nine million ways to bring Ripley back, or to do other stories. (CFQ:V22,:N6:p14)
2. David Giler: Sigourney told me on the night of the rap party on Alien Three that she was gonna miss this character. I said "don't be silly, this character is you know, she'd just had her chest ripped out in a pit of fire and you know and all the rest of it. I said so we start Alien three, we go to some laboratory some place and they open up a drawer, and they've got your fingernail clippings in there. And they clone you and you're a whole new one." "Really?" "We could bully them. If anyone wants to bring you back we can do it." And it's pretty much like that. Somebody came to me now and said, I think they are talking about making another Alien and you know, somebody comes and asks me how I think it should be done, I've got an idea. (report from the interview of Alien Evolutions)
3. Starburst: So this is finally the end of the line for Ripley?
   Sigourney Weaver: Well, If Walter (Hill) and David (Giler) and all those guys can come up with some amazing scenario where Ripley could be reconstituted from her finger nail clippings, I'm  not saying no. It's just that how many times can the same character wake up to the same situation over and over again and win, and then go back to sleep and then have the same thing happen in the next movie. ((Starburst #170 "Sigourney Weaver: Three Times a Lady" interview Part 3)